


Heart in the Clouds

by AHS



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, daydream charm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-02-22
Updated: 2007-02-22
Packaged: 2017-10-13 06:53:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/134245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AHS/pseuds/AHS
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>6th year. After seeing Ron kissing Lavender, Hermione turns to the Daydream Charm for solace. What happens when Ron has to go into her daydream to get her out?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heart in the Clouds

Hermione Granger blew into her dormitory like a small, angry hurricane. She dove for the refuge of her bed, her continuous tears absorbed by the quilt his mother had given her on her last birthday, as she cursed Ronald Weasley to the heavens. Oh, how she hated him!

How she desperately wished that she could hate him.

 _Sigh..._ How she loved him.

Stupid boy. It was supposed to be the two of them. Didn't he know that? Had she been alone these past five... Merlin, nearly six years they'd been friends? She knew he'd been feeling something, too; she would swear it on her copy of _Hogwarts: A History_. So why was he kissing Lavender?

When she had seen Ron with Lavender, a dementor's kiss could not have hurt Hermione any worse. His kisses were supposed to be saved for _her_. Maybe she and Ron had never really kissed before, but they would someday... she had been so sure. Oh, and he had to be all over that girl at the Gryffindor Quidditch celebration, in front of everyone! Didn't he know most of those people had been taking bets for years about when he and she would finally become an official couple?

Maybe that was why he did it. Maybe he resented his romantic life being a foregone conclusion. Maybe he was sick of Seamus calling him "Mr. Granger" sometimes as a joke. Or maybe he was just sick of her. Plain old Hermione, whose face he saw every day, all the time. Boring, bookish Hermione, who would probably never be up for a snog in a public place. So, he turns to vapid, hyper-hormonal, somehow-manages-to-show-cleavage-in-her-school-robes Lavender Brown. Why not? Boys were simple like that. Just because Ron was so special to her, it didn't mean he wasn't only human.

Still didn't make her fool heart ache any less.

Hermione pushed herself up and futilely wiped her eyes. She might not be able to stop crying, but she could and would stop feeling sorry for herself. Ron had made his choice and that was that.

There was one reason to be grateful to the worst party ever, she supposed. At least it was giving her an empty room and privacy right now. And, hopefully, that privacy would continue if she went for a little walk. She needed to move her bones, get some fresh air, and get away from Lavender's things before she set them on fire. Considering the way she had torpedoed those birds at Ron's head downstairs, Hermione wouldn't put it past herself.

She wished for a moment that she had Harry's Invisibility Cloak, so she would be sure to stay in hiding. She might have tried borrowing it, but she knew that would surely mean meeting up with Ron again. She settled for a spell to make her footsteps silent, grabbed a jacket, and hurried stealthily out to the grounds.

Hermione made it easily and walked for half an hour or more, through the trees and past the lake, just skirting the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Finally tiring and calming some, after circling almost back to where she began, she slowed in front of one particular tree. She, Ron, and Harry had sat under it many times doing homework, or making plans to face whatever challenges, or evils, they were facing that year. It had been just she and Ron a few times, during fourth year, when Ron and Harry hadn't been speaking. She remembered Ron saying one of those times, as she tried to convince him to make up with Harry, that she was the only one he needed. Even though he didn't mean it the way she made it sound in her head, she found herself looking for stray tissues in her pockets at the thought.

"What's this?" she whispered, pulling out something that was not tissue. She didn't bother with _Lumos_ , the moonlight giving more than enough to see by. "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Patented Daydream Charm." Hermione gasped. "I forgot about this."

Shortly before the school year, the three of them had gone with Ron's family to see his brothers, Fred and George, and their already very successful new joke shop. More than jokes, though, as she found many truly impressive magical applications. When she'd said so regarding this charm, the twins had given it to her for free. She had pretended she was only taken with it as a student of magic, but the truth was she had stared at it, imagining what she might dream with it. Only thing she knew for certain was it would involve Ron.

Hermione sat down, leaning back under the tree's sturdy shelter, contemplating the possibilities she held in her hand. Why not try it now? The packaging advertised it as being undetectable when used in class, but Hermione would never use it then, as she actually liked lessons. Now, with no one around... and probably no one looking for her... offered the perfect experiment conditions.

Besides, it might not even work.

xxx

"She's gone mad! Harry, look at my head! I'm all full of little holes from her blasted birds!" Ron shouted. "What's got into her?"

"Are you seriously asking me that? Because I can tell you," said Harry, not believing how blind his best friends could be to each other sometimes.

"Go on then, tell me." Ron said it like he knew he was blameless, but he hunched his shoulders like he really knew he'd blown something big.

"You were snogging Lavender Brown, rather graphically, in front of dozens of our friends and classmates... mere days after Hermione, for all intents and purposes, asked you out when she invited you to the Slug Club party... and, I could be wrong, but I thought you said you'd go... So, Hermione sees that, and you don't expect her to be upset?"

Ron paled. "Well... it sounds bad if you put it like that."

"You mean, like it happened?"

"Whose side are you bloody on, mate? Look, she... she never said that was a date, that party. She acted like she was doing me a big favor, letting me be her guest. Besides, she... she..."

"Kissed Viktor Krum? _Two years ago_?"

"Yeah!" Ron raged, feeling completely justified.

Harry shook his head. "And why exactly shouldn't she have? Don't say he's an old, Russian, bad-tempered git, either. What do _you_ have to do with any of it?" He was trying to get his friend to face up to his feelings.

"I... well, she's..." Ron stammered, fruitlessly.

"So, this thing tonight with Lavender... that was all you reacting off what Ginny said?"

Ron's cheeks still flamed, remembering his baby sister screaming at him that not only did she have more kissing experience than he did, but so did Harry, and pretty much the entire school... including Hermione.

"She was right. Hermione's not waiting for me, so no sense me wasting my teenage years waiting for her."

"Is THAT what Ginny said?"

"Never mind. I'm going to have a good time from now on, and Hermione and Krum can get married and raise a flock of psycho birds, for all I care. I don't need her."

Harry sighed, feeling they'd gotten nowhere. "Well, you do what you want. I'm going to go look for her."

Ron was suddenly right behind him.

"I'll go with you."

xxx

"Hermione," his voice whispered. "Hermione."

She opened her eyes, knowing this was a daydream. But, despite the dreamy echo to his voice and how out of nowhere he had appeared, it all seemed very real.

"Ron. What are you doing here?"

"I came to find you, to tell you... I'm sorry. I'm sorry you saw that and sorry it happened. I shouldn't have kissed Lavender."

She knew the real Ron would never apologize so fast for anything, and probably never for this, but it was really nice to hear it anyhow.

"Why shouldn't you? She's attractive. She's fun. And you don't owe me anything. Maybe I get a little possessive of you... and Harry," she added hurriedly, "sometimes. But, being your best friend doesn't give me any claim on you. I'm sorry I got so angry like that. You and Lavender could..." she struggled,"be a good..."

"Hermione, stop. She and I aren't going to be anything. I already told her that, before I came to find you."

"You did? Why?"

"Because... you do have a claim on me. Don't you know that? Smart as you are? I think we've had claims on each other almost since the beginning."

xxx

Harry finally had to use the Marauder's Map to locate their missing friend.

"She's outside," he said, surprised, to Ron.

"What's she doing out there at night alone?" Ron stopped, suddenly afraid. "She _is_ alone, right?"

"Yes."

Ron breathed a small sigh of relief, but he was still worried. "You think she's still upset about... you know?"

"Let's go see."

A few minutes walk and the boys found her, sitting under a tree and staring off into space. Harry walked up to her first, with Ron trailing somewhat nervously just behind.

"Hermione, are you all right?" asked Harry.

She showed no signs of recognition or response. Ron risked her wrath to ask as well.

"Hermione, I know you're ticked at me, but say something, okay?... Hermione?"

He followed her line of sight and saw nothing but trees, fog, and open space. She was still staring. Ron started to really worry.

"Okay, if she was just ignoring me, it would be one thing, but she's not talking to you either. She's barely moved. I think something's wrong, Harry."

"Should we take her to Madam Pomfrey?"

Harry kneeled on one side of her, Ron on the other, and they shook her gently by the shoulders. One of her hands fell from her lap to the ground beside her, but she stayed otherwise in the same position.

"She's not been petrified, at least," said Harry.

"Yeah," replied Ron, lightly stroking her arm. "She's still soft."

Harry noted the obvious care. "Hospital wing, then?"

Ron frowned, discovering a bit of paper caught between her fingers. He pulled it out and looked at it, reading.

"I should have known."

"What?"

"This is from my brothers' shop... Patented Daydream Charm. What's Hermione doing with it?"

"Having a daydream, apparently."

"Yeah, but... why? Why now? The time Hermione spends with her head in the clouds is pretty damn limited. And why would she use anything Fred and George gave her? Forget Pomfrey. We're gonna have to talk to the twins."

Harry was confused. "But if we know it's a daydream charm, why don't we just leave her be? It'll wear off before long, right?"

"Maybe," said Ron, unconvinced. "But I don't trust anything my brothers make. We'll stay out here for a little longer, and if she takes too long to come out of this, I'm getting those troublemakers to fix it."

xxx

"First time we met, on the Hogwarts Express, and you informed me that I had dirt on my nose... you were so cute."

"You lie!" Hermione laughed. "You thought I was awful."

"Still thought you were cute. You were just..."

"An insufferable know-it-all."

He grinned. "And now you're a sufferable one."

"Are you sure? I know I can still be like that. I guess I just always felt I had something extra to prove, being Muggle-born. I wanted to show that I deserved to be here."

"Hermione." Ron put his hands on her shoulders and very lightly shook. "Don't you know you've proven that a million times over? You're the best of us at everything, except maybe Harry at Defense Against the Dark Arts. You are the smartest, most talented... most beautiful witch I know."

"You really mean that, Ron?" she asked, feeling him tenderly stroke her arm.

"Yup. So that leaves just one question."

"Yes?"

"Why on earth did you pick me?"

xxx

After an hour of keeping watch over Hermione, Ron had had enough, declaring that it wasn't supposed to last more than thirty minutes, and that they didn't even know how long she'd been in it before they came out. He was getting in touch with Fred and George.

"How are you going to do that? Post takes too long, we can't apparate out of here, and despite your dad's fondness for _'fellytones,'_ I don't think you have one in your pocket," said Harry.

"Nah, this is better."

Ron reached into his pocket and pulled out a small pad of paper. As Harry watched, he wrote on the paper without the aid of a quill... just with the tip of his finger. He wrote, _Hermione used your Daydream Charm over an hour, maybe two hours ago, and she's still in it. How do we get her out, you stupid gits?_

A minute later, a response appeared on the paper... _Hey now, is that any way to thank us for this handy dandy notepad? It's okay though. We know you're touchy when it comes to the little wifey. Let's see..._

Ron flushed over the "little wifey" comment, while Harry kept his distance from Ron's unusual communication device. Unfortunately, it wasn't completely unusual, as it reminded him much too much of Tom Riddle's diary. Ron noticed his response and understood.

"Yeah, they actually got the idea for this from that diary, as bad as that sounds. But, as they'd say, this one's made for good, occasionally mischief, but not evil. They gave it to me after they left school, but I haven't actually used it until now."

"What happened to you not trusting anything your brothers make?"

"I don't trust their stuff to not be more trouble than it's worth, or not occasionally punch you in the eye." Ron smiled, remembering Hermione and that Sneakoscope. "But, generally, they really know what they're doing. Look, they're back."

 _Okay, we knew there was a little trick for this. We stand by our Patented Daydream Charm, and all lawsuits will be immediately dismissed as wholly without merit. However, if the lovely Hermione is stuck inside her daydream, it's because she really really doesn't want to leave it. Doesn't happen often, but she must have dreamt up something mighty good, and now she's content to stay there. Assuming you guys want her available for future adventures, one of you is going to have to go in and get her._

Ron wrote, _Go in where? She's outside._

 _In her daydream, peabrain. So, which of you is going to do it? Please say Harry._

Ron wrote angrily back, _**I'm** going, thank you very much!_ Then he realized he hadn't checked with Harry. "Harry, is it okay with you if I go?"

Harry smiled. "I think that's as it should be. I think it's what Hermione would want, too."

"Really?" Ron looked pleased, even after seeing the twins' latest response.

 _Stupid, but he is sweet, isn't he, Fred? That he is, George._

 _Okay, okay! So, what do I do?_

 _Getting in there's a breeze. We'll give you the spell. Now, you might have to hold her hands while you say it, so will you be able to control the flop sweats you get? Otherwise, poor Hermione might find herself suddenly dreaming she's being chatted up by the Hogwarts lake monster._

 _Oh shut up, both of you. Tell me what I do once I'm inside her daydream._

 _Search us. You kind of have to figure that out when you get there._

 _WHAT?_

 _Well, the basic idea is to get her to leave the daydream. But she probably won't want to. Plus, you can't just scream or pass wind or something to shock her out of it, you really need to coax and convince her._

 _How do I do that?_

 _Hey, she's your "friend," not ours... Mr. Granger._

Ron scowled. Bloody Seamus.

The twins continued with instructions... _Now just sit down in front of her, loop the pendant chain so it's around both of your necks, take her hands, and repeat after us..._

 _Wait, wait! What pendant?_

 _Oops, did we forget that bit? That's because the Charm is basically the spell, but we included a very lovely charmed gold pendant to make the product appeal to the young witches. She'll be wearing it. Don't take it off her, though. Won't get her out. That'd be like if she was stuck in a room, floating in the middle of nowhere, and you took the door off. Even if she got out of the room, she'd still be in the middle of nowhere, lost, and probably falling._

Ron cursed his brothers yet again for putting Hermione in danger, but he knew he needed their help now. He sat down in front of her. At first he didn't see any pendant, but then he noticed a slight glint of gold just under the collar of her sweater. He held his breath as his fingers shyly made their way a chaste inch or so past her collarbone, just skimming over her skin, to grab hold of the chain and pull it out. He brought it over his head as well. The chain was long, but it still kept them quite close together. The golden symbol hanging between them was a cloud, with a heart in the middle.

"Wish me luck, Harry."

"Good luck, but you'll do fine." Harry smiled mischievously. "Go get your woman."

"My...?" Ron looked at Hermione before him and realized there was no reason to turn red. That was who she was.

 _Hellooo? Are you repeating after us, or are we writing out top secret spells to ourselves?_

 _Sorry. I'm ready now._

Ron held Hermione's hands in his and prepared to enter her dreams.

xxx

"What do you mean, why did I pick you?" Hermione asked him, confused. "If I can't have you in real life, at least maybe I can in a daydream."

"I don't mean for the daydream, love. I mean why did you pick me over Harry... to want to have daydreams about?"

"Harry? Ron, why are you asking me such a silly question?"

"Maybe you worry that I might wonder about that in reality. C'mon, every girl in this school just about has fancied him at one time or another. So why are you here with little ol' me?"

Hermione knew, even though he was trying to play at being humble, that he truly was insecure about a lot of things. She really thought about her answer.

"Remember the end of second year? After I was released from the hospital wing?"

"Yeah, of course I do. I was grinning like an idiot."

"I ran to the two of you. I hugged Harry. I turned to you, _almost_ hugged you, but we both stopped ourselves, and we ended up shaking hands?"

"Wasn't half awkward, was it?"

"It was very telling, Ron. It made me realize..." She lost her thought for a moment as he reached to play with her necklace, fingertips briefly skimming her skin. "Up until then, the two of you had been my friends in much the same way... except that we fought more, of course." Both smiled at that. "But I hugged Harry so easily because he'd become like a brother to me. I didn't think about it. With you, a hug meant touching... and nervousness about touching... and we second-guessed ourselves because we'd started to like each other too much."

"Wow. I, uh... thought it was something like that on my end. But, on yours, I just figured you liked Harry better, even just as a friend. And that I'd always be the one who started out saying mean things and making you cry."

"We were so young then, Ron. And we hardly knew each other yet. But you became my protector. For heaven's sake, you vomited slugs just to defend my honor!" She would never forget that. Malfoy calling her "Mudblood" had been worth it to know that Ron cared.

He took her hands in his as he mumbled, "Stupid broken wand," with a secret smile.

"It was the most beautiful disgusting thing ever," she declared. "After that, how could I help but fall in love with you?"

xxx

Ron opened his eyes. Realizing he was no longer holding Hermione's hands... at least, this part of him wasn't... he figured the spell must have worked. But how could this be her daydream? It looked like where their bodies still were, same tree and everything. But...

"How could I help but fall in love with you?"

It was Hermione's voice, coming from the other side of the tree he was leaning against. He didn't want to turn around, afraid of who she might say such things to in a daydream... Vicky Krum, most likely. Or, bloody hell, what if it was Harry?

"I couldn't help it, either. I love you, Hermione."

That made Ron turn around. He looked and saw... but that couldn't be... but he'd heard... and there he was.

Ron was staring at himself, and had just heard this other him confess to Hermione what he, the real Ron, had not yet been able to.

"Oh, Ron."

Ron got swept up for a second, in the sound of her sighing his name like that, when he saw that she and DreamRon were leaning in towards each other... about to kiss.

"STOP!"

He had needed to scream that, but he hadn't actually thought anything would happen. Ron looked around to see that he had made everything stop. Hermione and DreamRon were frozen, halfway to a kiss. Ron was perplexed but very relieved. He needed a chance to catch his breath and understand what the hell was going on here.

 _I'm Hermione's dream that she doesn't want to leave? Hermione... loves me and wants me to love her? Wants me to kiss her?_

He walked around the tree and looked fully at the picture that was almost right, but not quite. She was there, so beautiful, waiting for _him_. At last, he was going to step up and take his rightful place.

"Why didn't you say so?" Ron murmured to her, before tapping his dream self on the shoulder. "I'm the real thing and I'm cutting in."

DreamRon looked up, appeared intimidated, and just faded away. Ron enjoyed for a moment the thought that he could at least intimidate himself, then took the newly vacated seat. He swallowed nervously, her eyes closed and her soft, pink lips ever so slightly parted right in front of his face. But he knew this was it. He held her face in one of his hands and took a deep breath, whispering simply, "Go."

He felt the dream world go into motion again. And with it came the gentle collide of her mouth with his. Even after the brief pause to prepare himself, Ron was stunned that this was actually happening. This was Hermione. _My Hermione._ His other hand wanted to touch her, too, and joined in cradling her face against his. He just pressed his lips to hers for a sweet while. Maybe she thought he was the world's most boring kisser, but he had spent so many days and nights... _years_... dreaming about her lips, he just really wanted to feel them, their softness and their warmth. But he had, of course, dreamt of more. He didn't know which of them started it, but the next thing he knew, their mouths were open and exploring each other and... her hand was hot on the back of his neck... and her tongue brushed his too many times for him to think straight. But he realized she wasn't going to want to leave the dream world if she thought it was the only place that felt like this. Reluctantly, he let the kiss end.

"Ron, I... wow," Hermione breathed. "I can't believe how real that felt. This daydream charm is amazing."

"It's not the daydream, Hermione. It's us. That's been a long time coming for us, and it is real. Don't think it's not."

"I thought it would happen for real, but now I think I must have missed whatever chance I had with you. That's why I'm so grateful for this dream. Even if it technically doesn't count, it was everything I could have hoped for my first kiss."

"You can't live in the daydream forever, though. I promise if you leave it, I'll be there waiting in the real world to kiss you again." Some of her words belatedly sunk in for Ron. "Your first kiss?"

Hermione blushed a little. "Yes."

"You mean, with me?"

"I mean at all."

 _What? That can't be right._ "What about Krum?"

Hermione looked surprised to hear the name. "Viktor?" She shook her head. "I think I kissed him on the cheek once, but that doesn't count, does it?"

"But Ginny said..." Ron couldn't believe this. On one hand, he was glad. On the other, the only reason he'd gone near Lavender tonight was because he'd thought... _Damn it._ "Ginny said you'd snogged him."

"Ron, I didn't. But..." A flash of guilt passed over her face. "Maybe I let her think I did."

"Why would you do that?"

"So that she would tell you, and you would be jealous and hopefully do something about it," she admitted. "I know it's game-playing, and it's really not like me..."

"It's okay." Ron rubbed her arms, reassuringly. "I'm honored I made you so nuts about me that you were reduced to playing games," he laughed as she tried to give him an evil look. "And I wish I'd done something fourth year. But mostly I'm just happy you and Krum never..."

"I was always waiting for you, Ron."

"I should have waited, too, instead of just..."

Hermione could see him remembering his earlier activities... to her relief, with no fondness that she could see... and had to ask. "So, how did it compare? Our kiss, to the one with Lavender?"

"What? Don't even say that! There is no comparison! This was perfect. You are perfect. Lavender was just... there. And kissing her was... You know what Harry said to us last year when I asked what the kiss with Cho was like?"

"Wet?"

"Yup. Total mess. Only Lavender wasn't crying."

"Ewww."

"You asked," he grinned, as she playfully hit him. "So, yeah, I should have skipped that whole thing."

"But maybe you had to do it, so that I could see it and get upset... use the daydream charm... and all of this happen, in whatever form. If that's the case, I'd say it was worth it. Besides, there are other firsts left for me."

"What do you mean?"

"Did you tell her you loved her?"

"What, Lavender? No chance!"

"And did you...?" She whispered something in his ear that made Ron turn several shades of scarlet.

"N-no, no, we certainly did not!" he stammered, looking cutely offended. "What kind of a tart do you take me for?"

Hermione smiled. "Then you waited enough for me." She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly, enjoying getting to be in his arms for more than two seconds under the guise of congratulating him for a good save in Quidditch. She thought of the last such blink-and-you'd-miss-it hug and how Ginny had rolled her eyes at them. _Ginny... hmm... that doesn't make sense._

"How did you know about the Ginny thing?"

"What Ginny thing?"

"I didn't know Ginny told you I supposedly kissed Viktor. It's been a couple of years, so I had completely forgotten I had even said anything to her. Why would I bring that into the daydream?"

Ron looked caught for a second, then smiled. Although she didn't realize it, she was figuring out the truth. "You're too smart for your own good, you know that?"

"What?"

"Hermione, it's me. The real me. The real Ron. Harry and I found you, I saw you'd used the charm and that you weren't coming out, and I got the twins to tell me how to help you."

She stared at him for a full minute, saying nothing, trying to discern if this was really Ron or if her dream version was making bad jokes. But she knew. She knew it was the real him.

"Ron?" she managed to whisper, touching her hand to his cheek.

"Yes, love."

He was expecting a sweet moment, but all of a sudden she got up and started pacing and blustering.

"How dare you come into my private daydream?"

Ron blinked, unable to fathom that she was upset he came to rescue her. "Are you taking the mickey?"

"No! It's an invasion of my mind, my heart, my fantasies..."

He bolted up to stand in front of her and cut her off. "I'm already in all of those places, you mad woman! Arriving in your dream to find me the star of it proved it to me! And the fact that I came here to get you at all should prove to you that it's the same for me! You're all the time in my mind and my heart and..."

"Your fantasies?"

"Sweet Merlin, yes!"

Ron was out of breath from saying all that, and Hermione was out of breath just from the honesty of his words. She distanced herself from him just slightly, feeling she might pounce on him.

"At what point was it you? Here, I mean, in the dream."

He calmed to answer her. "I took over just in time for the kiss."

"So... if you're real... the kiss counts?"

He smiled at her step forward and her hopeful expression. "It absolutely counts. It counts for a lot."

"And will it still count if we go back to reality? How do I know this won't all fade away like it never happened?"

"Because you and I happened a long time ago. We've been happening for years, and that can't fade away."

She teared up a bit. "Are you sure you're the real Ron? Because I don't remember you being such a smooth talker."

"Ha ha," Ron replied softly. "You just have to trust me, okay?"

He held out his hand. She took the few more steps towards him needed to take it, and they returned together to their places by the tree, sitting facing each other.

"Okay," she said. "I do trust you, Ron. And... I love you. Did you miss that part before?"

Ron beamed. _She really loves me._ "I heard it. But you said it to... the other one."

Hermione gazed into his amazingly blue eyes more deeply than she had ever been able to before. "I love _you_."

With a trembling hand, Ron reached for her gold chain and brought it over and down to encircle his neck with hers. He looked into her warm brown eyes the same. "I love you." He kissed her lightly. "Now let's go tell Harry he was right and let him gloat."

The cloud spun between them, and they grasped the heart with overlapping fingers. He nodded for her to speak, to end her daydream, and she did.

"I don't need to dream anymore. I have the real thing."

It was like they hadn't moved. They were still sitting by the tree, holding hands, and looking into each other's eyes. But suddenly they understood that they were out of the dream and back into reality.

"Hi?" Hermione spoke, like a question, to Ron.

"Hi," he said definitively back, with a wink and a hand squeeze, before carefully removing the pendant from the both of them.

Hermione started to lean in to kiss Ron and something fell off her shoulders. She picked it up. "Blanket? Did we have these?"

Ron noticed he had one, too. "I don't think so."

"Well, it's about time you guys got back. I've been out here watching over you this whole time... I _Accio_ 'd those, because it was getting cold... and man, have I been bored!"

Ron and Hermione laughed as they helped each other stand up and then both went to hug Harry.

"Thanks, Harry."

"Yeah, thanks, mate. You didn't have to stay out here the whole time."

"Nah, it's all right. It was actually really entertaining at one point."

"Entertaining?"

"Yeah, what you two were doing with your faces. Squooshing up your lips and sticking your tongues out like this." Harry then proceeded to make a rather unflattering kissing face.

Hermione made a small shriek and buried her embarrassed face in Ron's chest. Ron patted her hair while just looking mortified.

Harry started laughing uncontrollably. "Kidding. Completely kidding. You guys didn't move a muscle."

"Then how did you know?" Hermione demanded.

Harry just smiled. "I gave you guys credit enough to figure you'd at least be willing to go for what you really want in a dream."

"Now the tricky part will be doing it for real, I suppose," said Hermione.

"Nuh uh, love," said Ron, as he put an arm and a blanket around his girlfriend and the three of them began the walk back to the school. "That will be easy. The tricky part will be me managing to pledge my undying brotherly love to Fred and George. They may be gits, but bless that Patented Daydream Charm!"


End file.
